The tree dies because why would you expect a tree to grow in that sandy, briny, freezing regolith? To say nothing of the radiation and the (probable) chlorine?
I send a mission to planet a flag on a plant.
I mean remove the mods you tried to install, then get CKAN, open that up, select the mods you want, and click "Apply Changes". That should install them correctly.
@NikkyD try clearing up your Gamedata folder and installing them using CKAN. That will make sure you have all the right configurations of the mods. It sounds like Scatterer's atmospheric refraction isn't working for you.
It's getting pretty close to that, actually. I see your point though. You can't actually go "inside" a computer and have it be another dimension. The information inside computers looks like this:
Granted, but "it's place" is to be in charge of the universe.
I wish I could draw all known celestial bodies except Earth to the same level of geographic detail as is known about them.